Daily am I reminded of my late, Truman-Democrat father’s perspicacious observation of the now octogenarian New Left: “They’re only happy when they’re miserable.” An Irish-Catholic raised in an orphanage, he knew a bit about the subject. Yet, cursorily and rightly dismissing the radical Left out of hand, he didn’t waste time elaborating as to why misery was and remains their lot.
Unfortunately, my father’s good sense skipped a generation. While I’m not a credentialled cultural anthropologist, that never stops the Left from talking out their tail. So, what does account for the Left’s embrace of misery and its lust to impose it upon happier people?
One reason for the Left’s misery is the difficulty inherent in carrying the weight of a flawed world upon one’s self-anointed shoulders while wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve. Who wouldn’t be bummed out by the Sisyphean chore of scouring the globe for new “victims” to save, whether they like it or not; unearthing new taboos to normalize and old norms to condemn; placing it all upon the altar of the D.I.E. cult’s secular sacraments of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity; and doing so in the furtherance of propping up their own delusional sense of superiority?
Compounding the Left’s misery, this must be done in a godless, morally relative world where humans are guided solely by will and appetite. One might think they’d reconsider disdaining the ancient verities and permanent things, but sadly no. Thus, not only does the secular Leftist feel compelled to recreate the world in their grim visage, they have an extremely finite period of time to do it before their existence ends in nothingness. Engaging in “creative destruction” while “mostly peaceful protesting” is arduous (even though largely performed now without legal consequence) and, with nothing awaiting in the afterlife, a secular Leftist must endure the nagging question of what’s the point? Some may say “the verdict of history.” But, more than anyone, the statute defacing and history erasing Left grasps the vicissitudes of history’s “verdict.”
Top this off with the Left’s weaponization of misery to garner public support. One need only consider the Left’s capitalization upon a global pandemic to alter election law for their partisan advantage, use it as cudgel against an incumbent president, increase censorship, etc. The Left exploits every means at its disposal to manufacture and proselytize the false narrative of a systemically evil America that must be fundamentally transformed. They believe their malevolent view of our nation will change the culture of the citizenry, who will then vote for Leftist politicians and support their socialist policies.
The Left’s depressing and duplicitous narrative of “Amerika” is but another reason you don’t see happy Lefties; why their cable TV shows lag in the ratings; and why there are fewer left-wing talk radio listeners than there are alien abductees. Remember all those happy Soviet citizens in that leftist workers’ paradise? Me, neither. Yes, the old saw holds how “misery loves company.” And, true, the Left has every right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of misery. In reality, though, few people want to be miserable and prefer to pursue happiness; ergo, the Left must go the extra mile to impose their misery upon us.
The Left’s belief that extremism in the pursuit of misery is no vice is manifest under the Biden administration and the Democratic Congress, where due to their regressive policies both peace and prosperity are in the tank, though gas isn’t due to inflation. This is, of course, a fundamental reason for the Left’s misery: their policies produce it. Every…single…time.
Given this sad state of current affairs, with the Left reduced to electioneering on a record tantamount to “Keep America Miserable – Vote Democrat!”, these pro-government extremists must be positively ecstatic. For the Left is on the cusp of attaining what these power hungry, aspiring autocrats consider the ultimate misery: being rejected by the electorate.
As he describes himself: The product of a misspent youth, the Hon. Thaddeus G. McCotter (M.C., Ret.) is a guitarist, author, occasional radio co-host, and recovering politician. He is a former U.S. Congressman from Michigan having represented that state’s 11th Congressional district from 2003-2012.
